Now The SCGOP Cares About The “Republican” Brand?

TRY NOT TO CHOKE ON THE IRONY …

There’s some thick irony coming out of the S.C. “Republican” Party (SCGOP) this week …

The establishment that’s flooded with fiscal liberals and former Democrats suddenly wants us to believe the word “Republican” means something. And is worth fighting for. The party of former Democrats (like S.C. Senators Hugh Leatherman, Larry Martin, Billy O’Dell and Luke Rankin) and big government “Republicans” (like House Speaker Bobby Harrell and Gov. Nikki Haley) is up in arms that an independent gubernatorial candidate is referencing himself as a “Republican.”

In his first television advertisement of the 2014 gubernatorial election, petition candidate Tom Ervin refers to himself as an “independent Republican.”

That declaration was promptly greeted by a cease and desist letter prepared by GOP attorney Doug Smith.

“You chose to run as an independent,” Smith writes to Ervin in the letter. “The use of the word ‘Republican’ by a candidate who has chosen to withdraw from the Republican primary will undoubtedly confuse voters and create the false impression that you are actually a candidate of the Republican Party.”

“I wish the governor showed as much passion in protecting our vulnerable children who have been abandoned by the director of DSS, fixing our crumbling roads, reforming our tax code and giving parents more choice in the education of their children as she does in protecting her political future.”